Hugh Miller

Hugh Miller was a self-taught geologist, born in Cromarty, Easter Ross, on 10th October 1802, in a cottage still preserved by the National Trust for Scotland.  Hugh Miller rose from humble origins as a stone-mason to become a leading journalist, a popular geology writer, a social commentator and campaigner, and a leader in church affairs. He was also one of Scotland's early folklorists and his collection is an important source for the study of Scottish tradition.

His fossil collection of over 6,000 specimens became the founding core of what is today's Scottish national collection in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh.

He published a book of poems in 1829, but had more success with some articles in the Inverness courier on the herring fisheries. In 1835 he published Scenes and legends of the north of Scotland.  This collection of tales is still an important source of local history and folklore.

In 1839 he moved to Edinburgh to become editor of The Witness, a newspaper established to oppose the Patronage Act, which allowed landowners to appoint Church of Scotland ministers over the heads of local congregations.

He wrote hundreds of articles on every subject, attacking social injustices such as child labour and the Highland Clearances.

His bestselling introduction to geology, The Old Red Sandstone, a compilation of his geological artcicles in The Witness, was published in 1841.

He is buried in Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh, and an imposing monument was built to his memory in Cromarty. Charles Dickens praised him as "a delightful writer, an accomplished follower of science, and an upright and good man."

http://www.hughmiller.org/

http://www.cali.co.uk/users/freeway/courthouse/hughmil.html

http://www.slainte.org.uk/Scotauth/milledsw.htm

http://www.nts.org.uk/hugh.html